A busy week

At our church, Journey of Faith, we are a part of a group called "The Outlet". It is full of fun young people who enjoy spending time with each other and learning what it means to lead a Christian life. December is an extra fun month because of all the parties that are planned for our enjoyment, but this year all of the parties happened in one week!


On Wednesday (12/12th) there was the Women's Bible Study Party, where all of the Women's Bible Studies members got together for dinner and a "Yankee Swap" gift exchange. This is Megan's small group for the semester: Megan, Brandy, Jen, Krista, Maryn, Diane & Dana.
On Saturday night, The Outlet had a party and invited the boys this time. We went to our favorite hosts house, Adam & Angela's. This is Megan, Krista, Jen, Becky & Shannon hanging out by the ornament swap tree.
The third, and last, Outlet event for the week was the annual Manhattan Beach Christmas Fireworks on Sunday. We were told to get there at 5pm for the best fireworks show of our lives. That was halfway true...the fireworks were fantastic, but the show didn't start until 6:30! Now we know that we don't need to save spots on the beach, and that it does actually get cold in Southern California.

Kick off to Christmas!

Every year, the Hardens and the Underwoods (now with the addition of the Bottoms & the Lockridges!) travel to Twain Harte tree farm to find and cut down our very own Christmas tree. The tradition began many years ago, with a picture of all six cousins on the GIANT rock. Now, a decade later, with two husbands, one baby, and a girlfriend added (and minus Tim who was in Ecudaor this year), the rock doesn't lookquite so giant. But it is still a Christmas tradition!

We decided it wouldn't be a good idea to chop down a tree in Northern California and drive it all the way home on the top of our car. Instead, we spent our time finding funny trees. It wasn't very productive, but it was so much fun! This one is Megan's size!

We also stopped at our favorite apple ranch called Cover's. They have a little store that sells all things apple (and apparently also pear things because Dad accidentally picked up some pear cider this year!), and a little barn full of farm animals. Even with all the fun and excitement, the Harden kids can't pass up a good photo op!

Our First Year

We started off our marriage with a honeymoon in Cancun. It was hot, fun and very needed after planning such a fantastic wedding! We swam in the pool, ate some great food and we even went to a bull fight (which Dave does not recommend to other people planning honeymoons)!

The next big thing we did was get a puppy! We were trying to kill time one afternoon, Megan suggested walking around the mall and Dave, always trying to save money, suggested the pet store. Well, the rest is history. We fell in love with a puggle in the window and went home to do some research. We found a litter for sale out in Palmdale and drove out the next day "just to look"...too bad we had already picked out a name for her in our heads. Dave kept coming up with all these weird names and I said that we needed a good American name. That made us think of our favorite political commentator Sean Hannity, and her name was chosen! Our little Hannity is a ton of fun, a lot of energy, and even more work then we ever imagined but we love her so much!

We are also blessed with season tickets to all the UCLA home games because of Dave's work, so we have enjoyed many football and basketball games the last two seasons. This year we even attended a USC game courtesy of our good friends, Matt & Becky Smart.








We were able to travel with both of our families this year, starting in Sausalito with the Lockridges. Even though it was a very rainy day, we had lots of fun exploring a city that we had never been to before!





We also went to San Diego with the Hardens.

We went to a Texas A&M football game and the San Diego Wild Animal Park, but mostly we just enjoyed spending time with each other walking by the beach in the beautiful San Diego weather.






We spent Dave's 26th birthday in Palm Springs, where we went hiking into the hills. This is where we learned that our little dog is a great hiker. It must be the beagle in her!




In the end of March, our good friends (and cousins) Joey & Julie had a little girl named Ashley.



Now we get to live vicariously through them...we get to play with her and then give her back! But we love her to pieces, and wish we got to see her more often. She's growing so fast!






Another fun part of living in L.A. is that people want to come and visit us!

Our first real houseguests were Mike & Crista Seefeldt! They were such good company that we want them to come back and visit us more often. They got to see and do a lot of fun things in L.A. but we were able to go with them to watch a taping of "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. It was so much fun!







In April, my dad & brother ran in the Boston Marathon. Dave couldn't go, but I went to cheer them on along with my mom, Sarah, and Bryan's girlfriend Kaitie. It was one of the coldest marathons in years, but they both finished and we are so proud of them!





Dave has also been playing rugby for three years now. He plays for the L.A. Rugby Club and last June they placed 3rd in the nation! We travelled to San Diego to watch his team play, and it was a great weekend. Dave had a huge cheering section with friends from all over who came to watch his team win. Jon & Jen Stewart even came on their 2nd wedding anniversary! What good friends we have!

For our 1st wedding anniversary, on July 21st, we went to SanLuis Obispo. We stayed in a beach house with our Jon & Jen, and even went wine tasting in a limo around Paso Robles. It was so much fun!

In October, Dave was asked to come back to his alma mater, Fresno Pacific, and play in a reunion baseball game. It was fun going back to Fresno, seeing old friends, and watching Dave put those baseball pants on again! Here he is looking very official with his good friend Mike Rich.

That is a pretty good review of our first year of marriage. It's been very busy, but lots of fun!